Boston deputy fire chief accused of rape in Brockton could face life in prison if convicted

Thursday

Aug 21, 2008 at 12:01 AMAug 21, 2008 at 9:06 PM

Peter P. Pearson of East Bridgewater, accused of posing as a state trooper and raping a city prostitute at gunpoint, was also arrested a dozen years ago for trying to solicit an undercover police officer posing as a prostitute

Maureen Boyle

The Boston deputy fire chief accused of posing as a state trooper and raping a city prostitute at gunpoint ducked jail time a dozen years ago when he was arrested for trying to solicit an undercover police officer posing as a prostitute.

Now, he could face up to life in prison if convicted in the latest case.

Peter P. Pearson, 51, of 142 Village Road, East Bridgewater, admitted to sufficient facts to offering to pay for sex on Sept. 13, 1996, after he was arrested by Brockton police, according to Brockton District Court records. The case was continued without a finding and later dismissed three months later after he paid $300 in court courts.

Pearson was one of a half dozen men arrested at the time of trying to solicit a female undercover Brockton police officer as part of a crackdown on prostitution along North Main Street.

Pearson, who has been a Boston firefighter for 23 years, is now accused of posing as a state trooper, ordering a Brockton prostitute into his car then driving to D.W. Field Park and forcing her to perform oral sex on him.

Pearson was arraigned in Brockton District Court Wednesday on charges of aggravated rape, assault with a dangerous weapon, impersonating a police officer and kidnapping while armed with a gun.

Pearson entered innocent pleas and is now free, wearing a GPS monitoring device, after posting the $50,000 cash bail set by District Court Judge Mary White Wednesday.

Because he is free on bail, Pearson will be placed on paid administrative leave by the Boston Fire Department. If he remained jailed, Pearson would be on unpaid leave.

A person convicted of aggravated rape or kidnapping can be sentenced to up to life in prison with parole once the case is moved to Superior Court.

Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz said the current case against Pearson will be moved from district to superior court. A person convicted in district court can only be given a House of Correction sentence of up to 21/2 years per charge, while in Superior Court a judge can hand down sentences ranging from probation to life in prison, depending on the charge.

“It is a very serious allegation and we are going to treat them in that fashion,” Cruz said.

Posing as a police officer is also taken seriously by authorities, Cruz said.

“People who are out there that are pretending to be something they are not really pose a threat to the regular people in our community and society,” Cruz said. “We need to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

Pearson was arrested Monday after a man flagged down an officer, saying the person who raped his girlfriend just drove by.

The woman first reported the attack to police in July — weeks after the June incident — when she was arrested on common nightwalker charges.

She told police at the time that the man ordered her into his car, claimed to be a state trooper, and drove to D.W. Field Park where she was forced to perform a sex act at gunpoint.

The suspect, who told her he had been watching her for weeks, then drove her back, the woman told police. She told her boyfriend about the attack at that time.

She told Brockton police she was afraid to report the attack because she believed the man was a state trooper.

The woman told police she saw the man again Monday night driving by on Haverhill Street, according to authorities. That’s when her boyfriend flagged down a Brockton cruiser, leading to Pearson’s arrest.

Assistant District Attorney Shelby Smith told the judge at Pearson’s arraignment Wednesday that the victim positively identified the suspect.

“She was 100 percent sure that was the same person,” Smith told the court.

Pearson, dressed in a suit jacket, ducked behind a petition in the court dock during the arraignment. He entered innocent pleas.

District Court Judge Mary White ordered Pearson to be held in lieu of $50,000 cash or $500,000 surety bail.

Pearson was also ordered to stay away from the victim in the case and to wear a monitoring device if he is released on bail, conditions recommended by the prosecutor.

Smith had asked the judge to set bail at $250,000 cash.

Pearson’s defense attorney, Kate Barnes, told the court her client is a hard-working, family man with close ties to the community and argued bail should be set at $5,000.

Barnes also questioned the credibility of the witness and said she would ask the court to provide the woman’s criminal history.

Barnes said her client was born in Dorchester, one of 14 children, and has lived in East Bridgewater for 28 years.

In addition to working as a firefighter, Person works at the Boston Harbor Hotel in fire security, Barnes said. She said he had also worked as a tractor-trailer driver between 1982 to 2005.